A New Beginning
by Sticks.-.Stones
Summary: Provides the transition from modern day till Foundation. Events of 3001:Final Odyssey are also present. Written as letters from the future. Constructive criticism appreciated....
1. The First Letter

Dear Alex,

My name is Nestor and I am writing to you from Earth in the year 2100 AD. My world may sound as far-fetched and alien to you as yours does to me. Yet I need some one as a confidante and hence this letter.

You shall be receiving this letter as I type due to an integrated software on my Siliconite known as Xenophon. It allows for communication through time, and space; wirelessly.

The humans in my world can be primarily divided into two groups – The Carbonites and The Siliconites. Both are interdependent on each other and help the human race to progress. The Carbonites are basically humans like you and me who are made up of Carbon and rely on reactions between organic compounds for their day to day activities. The Siliconites are made up of Silicon and rely upon electricity for their daily existence. To get the image of a Siliconite clearer in your mind, your present computer would be termed as an infant Siliconite in today's world. Also, all Carbonites are given a companion Siliconite who was made at the same instant as the birth of the Carbonite. My Siliconite is Alexander, and he really is the best companion one can hope to have.

The world today is a very clean place. We humans have finally learnt to co-operate with our environment and Mother Nature. Hydrogen fuel cells are used as power supply units but Ion drives are much more common in today's next generation of cars. Nuclear power is still used, but in the form of fusion. Fission reactors have been banned due to the excess amount of toxic wastes released during the process – Everybody knows what happened at Chernobyl. Tigers and all other species classified as endangered in your world have been saved and are thriving in the wild. The air is very clean and smokers are treated as outcastes. The waste disposal is carried out by the crew aboard the ISS Virus orbiting Venus. All mines have been shifted to Ganymede due to the rich lode found there, and in an effort to preserve the environment,

Earth has changed dramatically in other areas as well. All the countries have been merged and we have a common economy and currency. The armed forces and police forces have also been combined resulting in a formidable militia. Administration is somewhat similar to that of India and the feudal states of the Middle Ages. People of a common ethnic and cultural origin are governed by a body which is directly answerable to a central body. It is this Central Body, situated in the Indian subcontinent that makes all the policies and takes all the decisions regarding the welfare of Earth.

The UW (United Worlds) has really done a great job in keeping peace. We haven't had any instances of aggression for the past fifty years. We have also advanced technologically, spiritually and economically in ways thought impossible before. The trade between Earth, Mars, Moon, Venus, Ganymede, Europa and Titan is booming. It is an era of peace and prosperity that all hope will last…..

I shall be delighted if you could reply to me through any method possible. I shall await it along with Alexander.

Your friend of the future,

Nestor


	2. The Progress of Humans

Dear Alex,

Hello, I am writing to you again to inform you about the various developments we have experienced since I last wrote to you. As you might recall, it had been the year 2100 AD, and since you received it in the year 2006 AD, you might have realized that I used Xenophon to send the letter back 94 years. Now, I have sent the letter back 143 years to reach you in 2007 AD. Hence, you will have realized by now that this letter has been mailed from the year 2150 AD.

Our scientists made a remarkable and ground breaking breakthrough these past fifty years. They managed to increase the life-spans of us Carbonites!! Now, we are expected to live out the millennium. Though I do not want to go into the details, they managed this through a combination of genetic engineering and tissue culture to replace worn out tissues. However, this extended lifespan does have its drawbacks. Since the older generation can live longer, the United Worlds (UW) has felt the need to introduce strict measures on population control. A couple is now allowed to have only one child per century.

Viruses…. These small parasites had plagued the whole of mankind for since we evolved from Apes. Even the Siliconites were not spared by these things. However, concentrated efforts on the part of the UHO (Universal Health Organization) have led to the eradication of these small creatures and bits of programs. We have now stored small samples of them in a secure outpost in Mercury for protection against probable alien attacks.

My history books had shown me that the people of your generation launched space vehicles by the use of rockets and Space Shuttles. However, these methods are highly inefficient because, over 85% of the craft's weight is in fuel! Although we had advanced greatly, we were yet to figure out an alternative way of launching Space Vehicles, and hence faced many problems. But, recently, our scientists came up with a solution to this dilemma. Their solution was the construction of Space towers. These gigantic buildings are to be constructed with materials ten times stronger than diamond. The United Worlds has allowed the construction of four of these buildings along the Equator of the Earth. They are also to be connected at the tops to form a sort of artificial ring around the planet, which will serve as a docking station. Also, due to the size of these structures, people can be housed in them along with offices, parks, etc. About twenty years from now, Earth will be a very different planet.

Not only Earth, I believe that were you to visit me in this time and space by whatever means available to you, you will be awed by the changes Humans have wrought across the Solar System. From the mines on Ganymede, to the Giant Scar of Titan, the hands of man are evident everywhere.

Your friend of the future,

Nestor


	3. The Last Letter

Dear Alex,

I regret to inform you that this will be the last letter that I shall be writing to you. Alexander and I firmly believe that we are on our last legs and both of us do not expect to live out the year. We shall soon be at our resting beds awaiting the end, comforted by the knowledge of having led full and eventful lives. The year is 0001AE (After Exodus) which I believe would translate into your chronological scale as 3011AD.

You must be curious as to why the event "Exodus" occupies such an important position in our timelines so as to force us to change our point of reference in our chronological scale. Your curiosity is justified as there is a long story behind this. So, just sit back and read while I begin my tale.

In my previous letter I had spoken about the massive construction project involving the construction of massive space towers on Earth. Men swarmed around the foundations and people from all over the Solar System lent a hand in the massive construction effort. The works was carefully coordinated such that the four tethers would get completed together and hence cause no noticeable change in the rotation of the Earth. It was also decided that the massive Space Ports would be constructed by the massive construction companies on Titan. It has been estimated that this construction project resulted in the creation of over a thousand job opportunities per month.

However, it was not pre-ordained by Fate that the project would continue peacefully. By a cruel twist of fortunes, Earth proved to be too fragile a planet for such a massive and ambitious construction project. Its thin crust, just 40 km thick, ruptured and massive cracks developed on the surface. Being unaffected by events such as Earthquakes since 910BE (2100AD), had made the human race over-confident. No consideration had been given to these factors and when we least expected it; we faced the horrors of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, soil liquefaction, tsunamis, etc.

Despite all this, the structures managed to stay intact, but their foundations were severely weakened. They tilted over and promptly crashed onto the ground. Calling the event dramatic, awesome, enthralling, or any other adjective that comes into my head right now would fail to do it justice. The vibrations reverberated through out the Earth as the four behemoths came crashing down. It has been speculated that they were the main cause of the Tsunamis that engulfed the smaller islands in the oceans. It has been proven that they were solely responsible for the demolition of the glaciers of Antarctica, leaving the continent a quarter of its former size. All life forms on Earth perished instantaneously due to the sound of 'The Fall'.

Within a year, Earth became a desolate planet as the mighty oceans rose and covered the land, submerging all of Earth for eternity. The only company to be had on Earth now is that of the water-dwellers.

As you can well imagine, this tragedy had a terrible psychological impact on us human beings. We had destroyed our home planet and our place of origin. We were responsible for the extinction of more than a million life forms. We were the blundering baboons who had single-handedly sealed the fate of a planet prematurely.

Most of us could not bear the burden of this guilt. Curiously, it was unanimously decided to leave the Solar System forever, and venture far away, to a place where humans would be able to have a chance at another guilt-free life.

And thus it was that the great Exodus began. Only a few million humans chose to stay behind. The rest boarded their various ships and set course for distant stars. People traveled in packs, and among the hundred or so groups that were formed, two main groups emerged, each with over eight billion members. The first group decided to make for the centre of the Galaxy, in the hope that in the high density of planetary systems there, they might be able to find a suitable one. The other group on the other hand wished seclusion to atone for their mistakes. And hence, their ships set course foe the periphery of the Galaxy to find places in the widely scattered worlds there.

As for those who remained behind, we setup headquarters on Mars. We remained content with just survival. We prioritized on food production and made it our primary goal in life to safeguard the vast learning that the human race collected over the course of millions of years.

Now, Alexander and I have grown old and it is all I could do to send this last letter to you in order to show you how our mighty Republic of Humans have degenerated from their lofty beginnings.

In the time span that this letter will take to reach you, I may have already passed into the void. Please do not concern yourself with a reply as neither Alexander, nor I would be present for your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Nestor


End file.
